Flaking

I dyed my hair
to leave you—
escape artist’s
distinguished disguise
of film Noir lethal heroine.

My heels clicked the
malicious staccato of
break up songs
a week before—

dried blood lips
tinted with bruises
I knew I would leave
transverse your heartbeat,

the cold black dress
in swelter summer heat
to show the world
the delay of my danger.

Last night half-sleep
drugged me half-hearted
back into the navy
stocking run in the sky
that makes me feel
less alone—

the humidity in your room
caught in my throat
like a greenhouse effect
on certainty.

If I let you unzip me
& slipped my back against
my own vicious wishes
who is to say
I ever existed in my
40’s flavored film?